The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Carson City Field Office, announces the opening of a new 50-acre public firewood cutting area in the Pine Nut Mountains, approximately 12-miles southeast of Dayton, Nevada. The new cutting area at Mill Flat will allow people to cut pinyon pines and junipers in a targeted area to improve wildlife habitat and reduce flammable fuels.

Firewood cutting permits cost $10/cord. Permits are available at BLM-Carson City District Office and at the USDA Farm Service Agency offices in Minden, Yerington, and Fallon.

Most trees in the cutting area are green, although some dead wood is available. Firewood cutters may also cut wood from dead pinyon pines and junipers on public land outside the primary cutting area by obtaining a permit.

The Mill Flat area has been identified as important habitat for sage grouse, which need open country, but trees have increased there in recent decades and reduced the available sagebrush habitat. The project is part of a larger conservation effort by several agencies in western states where sage grouse populations have been in decline.

For more information on firewood permits and maps, please contact BLM at (775) 885-6000.